February - Be My Valentine
by HeKillsWithHisSmile
Summary: February Valentine's Day. After having missed pancake day, the Doctor accidentally lands on the wrong day, but finds himself doing something for Rose which he has never done for anyone else before. *PtII of 'A Calendar of Stories' Series*


Bugger.

The Doctor knew that there was a reason why he avoided certain times of the year on Earth. The human tradition of Valentine's Day was one of those times.

It wasn't that he hated the concept – to celebrate one's love for another. Yes…well, that was all well and good, but why did people assign one particular day to do so? Why not every day? That's what the Doctor never understood about this holiday. OK, well it wasn't exactly a holiday, but if there was way of making it one, the Doctor was sure that someone would do it. After all, humans did like their days off work.

Anyway, he couldn't understand why humans only celebrated this one day a year.

And don't even get him started to the commercialised presents and cards. They were just _wrong_. Every time he had landed the TARDIS during this time of year, he couldn't help but cringe at some of the things that written on cards and things that donned the shelves of supermarkets everywhere.

Of course, there may be another explanation as to why the Doctor hated Valentine's Day:

He'd never had anyone to call 'his Valentine'.

It just hadn't been a thing on Gallifrey and, in fact, it didn't seem to be a thing on any other planet other than Earth.

Earth was certainly a unique planet if there ever was one.

But yet, here he was again, Valentine's Day. In London. He had been aiming to take Rose home for Pancake Day, wanting to cook her pancakes in her flat. He also wanted to prove to Jackie that he was the best pancake tosser in the known universe after she had blatantly refused to believe such a claim when he had shouted it down the phone while Rose was calling to arrange a meet-up.

So you can imagine what Jackie said to him when he and Rose turned up at the door a week late:

" _You're a week late – guess you didn't want me to see those tossing skills of yours then."_

" _It's not my fault, blame the TARDIS! She got us here."_

" _You use the same excuse every time. Admit it, you were lying on the phone and couldn't bear to face me."_

" _I was not lying and, I know I use the same excuse every time, but that's because it's the same reason every time."_

" _A bad workman always blames his tools."_

" _Rose! Whose side are you on?"_

And it just so happened he had landed them on the day he really wanted to avoid.

The last thing he needed was to hear about Jackie going out to dinner with some guy (who wasn't the guy from Christmas… _Howard?_ ) that she was 'dating'; asking what Rose was doing and whether or not she was going out with him, because it didn't matter how many times they had to tell Jackie that they weren't actually together – she never believed them.

But he heard it all anyway.

The issue of himself and Rose being brought up at least four times – in different guises, of course – before Jackie left the flat, leaving the two of them alone.

"Does your mother understand the phrase 'not together' when it comes to you and I?" The Doctor asked when he was sure Jackie was gone. The woman had bat hearing, he was sure of it.

"Does it bother you that much?" Rose asked, sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea, passing one to the Doctor who had been sat on the sofa pretty much since they had arrived.

"It bothers me that she can't take a hint."

"But the actual notion of being with me doesn't bother you?"

How the bloody hell was he supposed to answer that?

 _By saying absolutely nowt and changing the topic completely. Best not press on_ that _issue now. It was complicated enough as it was._

"Sorry I landed us on the wrong date again." He apologised to her. He noticed how her face fell from the lack of response to his earlier question, but she didn't press the issue, for which the Doctor was glad.

"It's OK, like you said, no your fault." She wasn't facing him, and the Doctor knew he had probably upset her by avoiding her question, but there was no way of answering it without getting himself into some kind of pickle that he would never be able to escape from.

"I'm still sorry though," he told her. "Especially since we landed on the day we did and I suppose that can't be easy for you what with Mickey…" he trailed off, not really wanting to complete his thought about Mickey, since it bought up too many feeling. Namely, regret (he felt bad for having teased Mickey early on; he had actually turned into someone the Doctor would call a friend just before he decided to stay in the other universe) and jealousy (because…well, let's not get into the 'because' part there…).

"Doctor, honestly, it's fine. I never cared for Valentine's Day much; Mickey wasn't the most romantic person ever. It's just another day to me, really." She took a sip of her tea and the Doctor watched her with interest, not entirely convinced with her answer as she did look slightly down about something.

"Would you care for it if you were to have someone do it all properly for you?"

 _Was he about…? Could he…?_

"How do you mean?"

"Well, if someone were to make the day more romantic for you, would you care for Valentine's Day?"

 _Nah, he wasn't actually saying this, was he?_

"I guess," Rose shrugged. "But we'll never know."

"Why not?"

 _Doctor, what are you doing?_

"Because…well…because…" Rose looked at him. "Why does this matter to you?"

"Because it does."

"How?"

"It just does?"

"How's that an answer?"

 _Yes, Doctor, how is that an answer?_

"Because…"

 _Because…?_

"Give me an hour and I'll answer your question." He then jumped up from the sofa and made his way out of the flat and back towards the TARDIS, not looking round once to see the bewildered look on Rose's face.

 _Guess it's now or never._

…

For the whole hour, he busied himself with preparations. Why he said this would take an hour, he really didn't know. He probably should have said two – or three – if he wanted to do this properly, but any longer than an hour and Rose would get suspicious.

He couldn't quite believe what he was doing. After everything he had thought about this particular day and his responses to both Rose's and Jackie's remarks about his and Rose's relationship, he was still going through with this? Why?

Well that was the question, wasn't it?

No, he knew why. Sitting there in that flat, looking at Rose, he realised that he couldn't let her feel alone – not on a day like today. He may not know quite how he felt about her – his feelings had always been a bit of a mess when it came to Rose – but he knew that he needed to do this for both their sakes.

He didn't know whether this was going to be a make or break point in their relationship or if everything would stay the same afterwards, but he needed to make sure that Rose knew how special she was to him and that it did matter what Rose thought of a particular holiday – especially when it was done right.

That was if he had done this at all right. He was starting to doubt himself now.

…

"Rose?" The Doctor called as he made his way back into the flat. He hoped it didn't come across, but he could hear his voice shaking in the own ears from the nerves he felt. He was surprised he could hear his voice at all, really, considering the same set of nerves had caused his hearts to pound loudly in his ears.

Honestly, he didn't know what he was getting himself so worked up for.

 _He did, but he didn't want to admit to it._

"In here." Rose called from her room, a short way down the hall from where the Doctor was stood by the door.

He followed the sound of her voice (stupid really, when he knew where her room was. He had been in there many…

Yeah, probably best not to finish that…

… _times…_

…sentence.

 _Damn_ ).

As he pushed the door open, he could see Rose lying on her bed with a book in her hands. He smiled at the sight. A long while ago, Rose had said that it was thanks to him that she had become an avid reader, after having not been much of one prior to her travels in the TARDIS. Back then, he had acted all smug and up himself at having converted her to a love of books when, in fact, her confession had made his hearts sing. He hadn't really known what to say in that situation, he was useless at taking compliments really; hence the smug attitude. He had only been trying to make it easier on the both of them.

Well, that's what he told himself anyway.

"You're bang on time." Rose said, smiling at him warmly as she put the book down on the bed.

Blimey, did she have to smile at him like that?

 _Stop it, Doctor! You'll only make things more complicated between you._

 _Oh, and what I have planned isn't going to add to any complications we might already have?_

Finishing his internal argument by convincing himself that he was starting to go mad, he couldn't help but smile back at Rose.

"Well, time is my speciality, y'know." He said smugly.

 _Oh don't start._

"Really? So tell me again how it is that we landed here a week late?" Rose asked, her eyebrow cocked in an expression of amusement.

"Uh…be…well…cos…oh, whatever." He said and he saw Rose smile at that. What he didn't know was that she had always found his awkward, nervous stammering utterly adorable.

He, on the other hand, hated it when this woman stopped him from being able to form coherent sentences.

Rose giggled at him getting up from her bed and walking towards him.

"So, what is it that you had to dash off and do? And how is it supposed to give me an answer to my earlier question?"

Well, if he was totally honest with himself, he had hoped she had forgotten about asking him why her opinion on Valentine's Day, if she had someone do it properly with her, mattered to him.

That way, he could pass off what he planned as just a way of sympathising with her and trying to cheer her up.

 _Cheer her up? She said she didn't care for Valentines, you moron._

 _Yeah, and I know her well enough to know when something's bothering her._

"Just come with me." The Doctor took her hand and led her out of the flat and out to where the TARDIS still stood.

…

As he led Rose through the corridors of the ship, the Doctor felt himself become more nervous with each and every step. He fought the urge to turn back round to look at Rose every now and again; he was terrified enough as it was, he didn't want to know her expression, or what she was thinking, in fear of feeling that he had somehow got this all wrong. It was a risky thing, what he was doing, and he'd rather wait until Rose saw his surprise and then judge her reaction from that.

No need to make this any harder on himself than it already was.

They reached a door – one the Doctor knew Rose hadn't been through before. It was exactly the same as any other door on this ship but, like every other door, there was a carving written in circular Gallifreyan. He knew that Rose couldn't read what it said, just like she hadn't known what it was that was written on her door until he had told her that it was her name in his language a few months after she had started travelling with him.

"What's through here?" Rose asked. The Doctor said nothing and just pushed the door open an inch.

"A surprise." He finally replied, still refusing to look at her.

"Doctor, you alright? You've been very quiet." She was worried, that much he could tell from the tone of her voice. But it occurred to him – momentarily – that it wasn't the surprise she was worried about, but rather him.

He said nothing in return and just opened the door further, allowing Rose to peer inside the darkened room.

"Why's it so dark?" The Doctor knew Rose was now just trying to get him to talk as well as trying to fulfil her own curiosity.

"Just go in," he replied, giving no further information on the subject.

Rose did as he said and the Doctor followed behind her, closing the door gently.

The room was still dark and the Doctor let out a long, but silent breath as he waited for the TARDIS to turn the lights on.

Really though, he had no idea why she had turned them off in the first place. Maybe she just liked the suspense.

Though, the suspense, in this case, was killing him.

Eventually, the lights began to brighten and the Doctor heard Rose gasp from what she could see in front of her.

On the ground, not far from where Rose was standing was a medium sized picnic blanket – big enough for the two of them to sit on – and an old fashioned picnic basket (which the Doctor had known Rose would instantly like, since she had always been into things like that).

But it was what the TARDIS had chosen as their scenery that surprised the Doctor, since he had merely told the TARDIS that she should choose a setting that would be appropriate.

He hadn't expected her to choose this.

Not in a million year would he have expected the TARDIS to choose the view of his own planet from the stars as a means of creating a romantic picnic in a park.

He been expecting a _park._

Probably on Earth since he was doing this for Rose.

He wasn't sure how he felt about this.

Or how Rose would take it – and that was more important than his own feeling, at the end of the day.

"Doctor, it's beautiful." Rose said and the Doctor felt his panic disappear somewhat. "What planet is that?"

"Err…mine." He said, scratching the back of his neck as he always did when he was nervous. It was either that or pulling on his earlobe.

It was really a habit he needed to get rid of.

He saw Rose's expression change to one of sorrow as she looked at him in the eye, almost as though she was searching for the sadness that he was trying to hide.

It was certainly a futile attempt; she had always been able to see straight through him.

"Doctor, I…" She trailed off.

"It's OK." The Doctor told her.

"What's all this for?" She asked softly, moving on from the image of the long-lost planet in front of her.

"I…I wanted to answer your question on why it matters to me."

"On what mat—oh! Doctor, you didn't have to do all this." Rose told him, she was facing him fully now – had been for a while actually – but it was the first time the Doctor had realised just how close she had gotten to him.

"I know, but…I wanted to." The Doctor answered her. And he did, he really did. He'd do anything for Rose; he had long since stopped telling himself that he couldn't.

"Thank you," she said sincerely, sitting down on the blanket by the basket. The Doctor just smiled and did the same thing, sitting as close to her as he thought would be allowed without wanting to cause any awkwardness between them.

"You have the TARDIS to thank for the scenery." The Doctor admitted. "I told her that she should choose something that would be appropriate for a romantic picnic and she decided this was the right thing to choose, clearly. In all honesty, I was expecting a big green park somewhere on Earth. I hadn't expected she choose this."

"Well, I'm glad she did. It's beautiful."

"It was…yeah." The Doctor looked down and Rose rested her head on his shoulder as a means of comfort for him.

He looked at Rose and felt his hearts skip a beat. How had she managed to make him feel like this every time she was close?

"Tell me about Gallifrey, Doctor."

Tell her about…? Where was he meant to start? That the Time Lords had exiled him once; took away his ability to travel in time so he was stuck on Earth in the early 1970s? That they only cared about him when they were out of their depth and needed his help?

No, he had already told her all of that and, although he had only told her bits about the war and what had happened at the end, he didn't want to touch that subject at all – at least not today: one day he would tell her more, but now was not the time.

So he told her about the planet; his childhood; the way he used to run in the fields of deep red grass, always looking up at the stars, wondering what it was like to see them up close. He told her about the Academy and how, even then, they knew that he would be no ordinary Time Lord; that even then, he would break the rules, always eager to explore and to interfere where he shouldn't. Rose laughed at that. He told her about his family and the good times he had spent with his children before the war.

He opened up to her in a way he had never opened up to anyone else before and he felt…better; like a heavy weight had been lifted off his chest and he could breathe again for the first time in far too long.

When he was done with his tale, he looked down at Rose who still had her head resting gently on his shoulder. He could see tears in her eyes and he knew his were no less watery. Despite the omnipresent sadness in the air at the fact that he could never feel or see any of that ever again, he felt happier than he had in a long time.

They spent a long while just sitting together in silence, looking at the image in front of them. The Doctor had gotten so lost in his own thoughts that he had forgotten why he had done all this in the first place. He turned to Rose.

"So, have I done it? Changed your view on Valentine's Day?"

Rose looked at him and he could tell she had forgotten for a moment, too.

"If only every year could be like this." She said, and the Doctor didn't really realise that she wasn't actually answering her question, but more speaking to herself.

But he answered anyway.

"Why can't it?"

Rose looked at him.

"What?"

"Why can't every year be like this?"

 _Do you have any idea as to what you're saying?_

Yes, he did. For the first time, he knew exactly what he was saying and he meant every word. He didn't really understand his feelings, but he knew that this felt right. He wasn't sure if Rose felt any of what he felt, but it was worth risking his pride if it meant he could have one day of happiness like this a year – maybe more.

"Why can't every day be like this?"

That caught Rose's attention more than anything and she lifted her head off his shoulder to look him in the eye.

"Doctor…?"

"Rose, like you, I've never cared much for this holiday. We never had anything like it back home and I've never understood why you humans decide that one day is enough to make a big deal out of love, but I've decided that I'm just bitter because I've never had anyone special to share it with." The Doctor was looking at her in a way he never had before – at least not in a way he was aware of unless he she wasn't looking at him – he wanted her to understand what he was trying to tell her, but without words, because that was where he struggled.

"I've been on Earth and very long time now," he continued. "and so, forgetting all the commercialised nonsense and the cheesy cards and toys, I wanted to do this properly because, after all this time, I finally think I've found someone special enough to share this with. I don't go round telling people about my planet on a whim. For me to share something like that with someone, it's a big deal and it takes a lot of emotional energy to go back there, into the past. But for you I'd do it a hundred times over."

"Doctor, what are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is: will you be my Valentine?" He smiled at her and Rose laughed, probably because his last line had been as cheesy as anything.

At least, he hoped that was what she was laughing.

His doubts were put to rest when she brought his into a tight hug and whispered a simple "Doctor, what are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is: will you be my Valentine?" He smiled at her and Rose laughed, probably because his last line had been as cheesy as anything.

At least, he hoped that was what she was laughing.

His doubts were put to rest when she brought his into a tight hug and whispered a simple _yes_ in his ear.

He smiled and pulled out of the hug, using his finger to gently lift up her chin.

And before he could talk himself out of this, he pressed his lips to Rose's in a soft kiss, allowing her to pull away if she wanted to.

He soon found out that she didn't.

"Y'know, this means we're not going to be comment on mum's remarks any more, right?"

The Doctor groaned as Rose laughed, but kissed her again regardless.

He may have a lot of thinking to do about what this would mean for them but, right now, none of that mattered. He wasn't certain about anything but, if this was love, then it was something that he never wanted to lose a moment too soon.

Valentine's Day might just have become his favourite Earth celebration day

 _Well, second after Christmas._

…

One year later, the Doctor thought back on that day. He remembered how he thought his view on Valentine's Day had changed for the better and forever.

Now, he thought only one thing:

 _If only the universe had been so kind._


End file.
